As most of the country is under the Coronavirus lockdown, there have been reports from many parts of the country of people hoarding ration. In many places, people have bought flour, dal, rice and oil for several months. This has also spiked the prices of many food items in the retail market. But as per the data and the government, we have enough food grains for the time to come.
While issuing six months ration in advance for the people who receive ration from government quota in the country, the Union Consumer and Public Distribution Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said: “Our (government) godowns have adequate food grains. We have asked the state government to give six months ration to the card holders at one go. The minister also said that the government currently has 435 lakh tonnes of surplus food grain, including 22.19 lakh tonnes of wheat and 162.79 lakh tonnes of rice.
In India, cultivation occurs in three season this being Rabi season, which sees large scale cultivation of wheat, gram, mustard, pulses, etc. Right now, it’s time for Rabi season harvesting. New wheat crops have come up in the states of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra (states with rain-based irrigation), while the states of North India, including Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are coming up with new crops in the first week of April.
That means, in addition to the grains kept in the godowns, lakhs of tonnes of additional grain-supply will come to the markets.
“We have also been observing for several days that people have been hoarding ration, but there is no need for it. There is a tremendous food stock (storage) in the world and also in India. Apart from wheat and rice, there is a buffer stock of 30 lakh tonnes of sugar in the country. Talking about pulses, we had 16 lakh tonnes of stock in December 2019, out of which 8.5 lakh tonnes of distribution has already been started, yet the buffer stock quantity is pretty high,” informed Devinder Sharma, food and export policy expert.
The Agriculture Ministry had projected a record yield of wheat (10.62 million tonnes) this year. In 2019, 10.36 million tonnes of wheat was produced in the country. In the year 2018-19, India also exported 226,225 tonnes of wheat. Agricultural scientists and the government had also projected record production of wheat for the current season as this time the acreage of wheat in the country had increased due to prolonged rains during the south-west monsoon, though the conditions have changed slightly by March. Heavy rain, hailstorm had damaged crops in the month of March across several states of the country amid the threat of Coronavirus. But, according to the state governments, it will not have a major impact.
The worst loss in the month of March was seen in 60 out of 75 districts in Uttar Pradesh, but according to a report sent to the Centre on March 19, out of the total sown area of 92.91 lakh hectares (60 districts), only 2.89 lakh hectares has lost more than 33 per cent crops.
Wheat, rice, potato, maize and sugar are the major food grains and items in India. Out of these, lakhs of tonnes of buffer stock of wheat, rice and sugar is there in the country. According to the Food Corporation of India website, the central agency responsible for storing food grains in India, 584.97 lakh metric tonnes of wheat and rice is available in godowns in India until March 2020. The FCI in India has been established under the Food Corporation Act 1964, which aims to cater to food needs.
But under government procurement, only a few per cent of the total yield of the country is procured, and the other goes to the open market. The government buys about one-third of the total wheat generated every year for Public Distribution System and buffer stocks and 15 per cent of the production at government prices (minimum support price).
According to official statistics, the National Food Security Act per unit (person) provides 75 crore people in India food grains at very low rates (Rs 3 a kilo of rice and wheat at Rs 2 a kg) every month. Except Punjab, the rest of the states get one month’s ration. But due to corona, six-month ration will be given now. India will need 135 lakh tonnes of rice and 74.2 lakh tonnes of wheat in the month of April.
To avoid Corona infection many countries have sealed their political borders. The controlled traffic at the ports is also being delayed due to preventive inspection. In India, orders have been issued for closure of hotels, highway eateries to various shops in several states. But ration shops (public and private) shall remain open.
In his official address to the nation on March 18, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had proposed a self-curfew for the public on March 22. He appealed to the people to stay at home and step out only when absolutely required. At present, there is curfew in Punjab and Maharashtra and lockdown in 75 districts of the country.
Apart from cereals, milk is essential food production, but India does not face any problem with it at present. India has ruled for the last several years in milk production. According to data from the National Dairy Development Board, India produced 187.7 million tonnes of milk in the year 2018-19.
When asked about the panic-buying of milk and its products due to Corona scare, RS Sodhi, the managing director of the country’s largest milk production organisation, Amul, said: “India has abundant milk. Amul is now producing 15-17 per cent more. We can increase it further, but it is not needed. Since the Prime Minister also said that even during the public curfew and lockdown, the supply of milk and the related shops will remain open, people must refrain from panic buying.”
People are also hoarding vegetables due to apprehension. Due to panic buying, people are compelled to buy goods at increased prices in apprehension and haste despite retail traders spiking up the prices.
According to vegetable trader Jaywant Sonkar, at Navin Golla Mandi in Lucknow, people are hoarding vegetables like potato and onion. Although bad weather caused damage to the vegetables, not much difference was visible because in Lucknow, vegetables come from Siliguri and Nashik, unless there is difficulty in transportation due to corona. “After the lockdown in Lucknow, many traders, including Jaswant, have started home delivery of vegetables.”
With the direction of avoiding gatherings and maintaining social distance, the panic-buying of urban people has affected the prices of a number of products including vegetables. In the posh colony of Uttar Pradesh, Gomtinagar, potato sold earlier for Rs 20 a kilo was Rs 25-30 a kilo on Monday as only 5-7 shopkeepers had put up vegetable stalls instead of 15-20 shopkeepers.
The impact of corona is already visible in India’s neighbouring country, Nepal, where a lot of goods from vegetables to salt are imported from India and so the prices of potatoes, tomatoes and onions have increased manifold. In Nepal, tomato is sold at Rs 70-80 a kg, (Nepalese rupees) whereas potato is selling Rs 50- 60 per kg.
The videos shared from other countries upon social media are also considered a factor promoting the hoarding tendency among people. In many countries, including China, Germany and Italy, the governments had imposed lockdowns after the situation of Corona had deteriorated, leading to a shortage of food in many places. Air travel between several countries has been banned to prevent spread of infection. Several countries have sealed their borders even for the movement of goods.
In spite of the assurances Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s assurance of adequate and unhindered supply of essential commodities, the government should also take some pragmatic steps to assure the public that the government is taking some stringent steps, said Devinder Sharma. “As in Singapore, the limit of grain stocks per family has been fixed to counter panic buying. Kerala has talked about giving fixed quantities of rice to all the people (whether rich or poor) in the state. Such steps will improve faith of public and even keep it patient, if the fight against corona prompts a long-standing lockdown.”
Arvind Kumar Singh, senior journalist of rural affairs in the country and in-charge of parliamentary affairs in Rajya Sabha TV, informed: “The catering in India has changed considerably over the last few years. Now people do not only eat wheat and rice. We have so much grain in the government godowns that its proper use by the government was becoming an issue. Besides, potato is the major food crop of the country. Lakhs of tonnes of potato has reached the cold storage. Apart from that, there is no shortage of fruits and vegetables. If the government manages to curtail hoarding, the prices will not be much affected. But these conditions, the corona crisis, is global. In many countries, including China and Africa, farming has been affected. The prices of many food items in China have gone up. If the Corona crisis continues for long, it will have an impact on India as well.”
“One may hail Corona as an economic virus because it has affected food supply all over the world,” said the Andrea Chamber of Agriculture Disaster Management in South Africa.
